Method of transferring and classifying freight



. W. H. MASON. METHOD or TRANSFERBINQ AND cLAss'lFs/ING FREIGHT,

l APPLE/@mil FILED MAIL 31, 1919. 9535s Patented Dec. 5, X922'.

.if s@ @a 19 Patented Dea, 5, l922 UNET STATES WILLIAM H. MASON, OFHVERFORD, PENNSYLVANIA.

'METHOD OF TRANSFERBING AND CLASSIFYING FREGHT.

Application led March 31, 1919.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, VVLLLIAM H. MASON,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Haverford, county ofMontgomery, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful improvements in Methods of Transferring and Classifying Freight,of which the following is a speciflcation.

My invention relates to an improved method of transferring freight atrailway transfers and the like.

This application is a continuation in part of my former application,Serial No. 258,259, filed October 15, 1918.

At railway freight transfer stations, freight is taken from unloadingplatforms, way cars and the like, and transferred to other cars,principally to fully loaded or car load cars for shipment to distant.parts, and to cars loaded train order in which the freight is put inlast which is to be taken out at the first station, and so on, freightgoing to the terminal point to which the car is routed being loaded infirst and taken out last.

Such transfer work is a very complicated job. ln a moderately largetransfer station, incoming freight loaded in say 200 freight cars, forexample, must be transferred from any one of such incoming cars to oneor more of about the same (or a somewhat smaller) number of outgoingcars, and the separate transfer operations may run into many thousands,some being for short distances where the car freight is taken from andthe receiving car are located close together in the station, and somefor much longer distances, in some cases as far` as a quarter of amile'or even more.

rfhis work sofar as l am awa-re,v is done either by ordinary handtrucking or accord-- ing to one practice now in vogue, by trains. offour wheeled trucks hauled about by tractors. Hand trucking is very hardlaborand requires strong men to do it, and there. is much waste of timeand labor as in run ning back with empty trucks over longdis-v tances.rlhe use of tractors and truck traina,

while of undoubted advantage as comparedy with hand trucking, involvesnumerous ob-l jectionable features. It is frequently neces-l cessary to,take out a truck from the middle of the train', necessitating sto s,backing up to recouple, etc., turning. of t e tractr and-v Serial No.286,321.

trucks on narrow platformsy is difficult, and numerous other kindreddifficulties are encountered. y f

The object of the present invention is to do away with difculties of thecharacter referred to, and to provide a method of freight classicationand transfer whereby this imn portant work may be performed very largelyby power actuated mechanical means, with a minimum of labor, and wherebythe work 6 is light-cned and may be done very largely by women and boys,making the services of large numbers of stronger men available for otherwork. f

According to the present invention, an endless traveler is providedextending adjacent to all the cars in the station, and this traveler ismoved continuously at a moderate rate of speed, say about 300 feet perminute.

A number of trucks-'-preferably four wheeled trucks-are provided, havingmeans for removably attaching them'to the traveler at any point in itslength. `When so attached or secured they travel in a closed pathadjacent to all the freight cars in the station, and may be detachedtherefrom at any desired point, as for example, when a car is reachedinwhich the articles loaded on the truck are to be placed., or where anempty truck is wanted, or the like. ln a large installation the travelermay be of considerable length, say two miles or more, and severalhundreds of such trucks may be required. I 90 rlhe trucks are preferablyprovided with placards or other marking to indicate the platform towhich their contents are to go, the side of the platform on which thereceiving car is located, and the car in which they are to be placed,and the like, and a common platform is preferably provided, which istraversed by the traveler, which preferably comprises a number of loopsor branches approaching one another in the neighborhood 100 lof suchcommon platform. yThe trucks may be short circuited from branch tobranch of the traveler over such common platform, by ya despatcher orattendant stationed there, rand circuitous travel is thus avoided when105 desired. l

In the accompanying drawing, l have ily-lustrated a preferable formofapparatusfor Zcarrying out my imprved method, but it is to be understoodthat 'other' forms of ape lll) paratus may be used, as illustrated, foreXA ample, in my former application above noted.

1n said drawing Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan `view of a freighttransfer station, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view thereof, Fig. 3 is aplan View of one end of a platform portion, Fig. 4 is a side View of atruck and a portion of a band form of traveler, Fig. 5 is across-sectional view showing the slot in the platform, and means forconnecting a truck to the traveler hand, and Fig. G is a fragmentarydetail perspective of one form of means for attaching trucks to thetraveler band.

Railway tracks are shown at 11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 1S and 19,arranged in a transfer station having a platform generally designated bythe numeral 20, and comprising a common cross connecting platfo 1mportion 21, and branches or extensions 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27. rThecross connecting part 21 is here shown as located about centrally, butits position may vary, so long as access can be had over the platform tothe various parte and branches thereof. lnstead of railroad tracks beinglocated adjacent to the platform in all parts, some of the platforms orextensions thereof may be adapted wholly or in part, to be used by othertransportation units, as wagons, trucks, barges, ships or the like. Forsimplicity, railway trucks are shown adjacent to all parts of theplatform.

The traveler 30 preferably :s in the form of a continuous ribbon or bandof steel or similar material, which is well adapted for this use, as theentire platform is on one plane or level. lllhere band steel is used, itmay be made in sections, and the sections secured together as bybrazing, welding or the like, prov'ding a smooth continuous band whichmay be of great length and is free from links, pins and the like, whichare required in large numbers, where a chain traveler is made use of,for example. he traveler band 30 runs over a number of pulleys 31, andpower may be applied at as many points in `ts length as desired. ln 3,one of the pulleys 31 is shown driven through a worm 32 and gears 88, 34from a motor 35, and the section 31C of the platform carrying the pulley31, is movable, being held outwardly by a tensioning` weight 36.By'applying a number of drives and a number of weights 36, preferably atthe outer ends of the platform parts, the expansion and contraction ofthe steel band 30, which may amount to several feetI in a total lengthof two miles or so, is automatically taken care of. Stops at 31a and 31bserve to limit the outward movement of the pulley sections and toprevent the pinching or binding of ythe traveler band in its slot.

The platform 2O is provided with a narrow slot 87 in which the traveler30 runs,

and it may be armored as with angle irons 3S, 38. Blocks 39, 39 may beprovided at intervals to keep the traveler 30 central in slot f5?. rTheband 80 is suitably supported at intervals as upon chilled rollers 4l),and the slot 37 being open at its bottom, there is no opportunity fordirt, &c., to accumulate therein and clog the slot.

VThe trucks 41 used preferably have four wheels, the forward wheels 42being swivelled on supports 43, so that the truck may turn readily kandthe rear wheels being des'gnated by numeral 44.

ll/.leans are provided for removably clamping the trucks to the travelerhand 3G, lrefera-bly the tongues or handles 45 are utilized for thispurpose. @ne way effecting this result, is by making the tongues orhandles 45 in two parts, one of which may turn with respect to theother, and utilizing this turning action to operate a suitable clampingdevice. ln the form saown, the rear handle section 46 which is attachedto the truck, carries a grasping device at its forward end, comprising ahollow head 47 in which a pair of cooperating fingers 48 are mounted..These fingers extend through an opening in the lower s'de of the head48, and being enlarged thereabove, obtain substantially a pivotalsupport therein. rllhe outer tongue member 50 is pivoted at 51 to therear tongue member 46, which is preferably of substantially voke form(see Fig. 5), and is provided with clamp operating means as a cam 52which enters between. the upper ends of Ars 4S and turning them on theirpivotal aports, produces a clamping action of their dov-,fr vardlyprojecting ends, whereby 'the ribbon 30 may he clamped between them whenthe tongue memher 50 is turned backward into the position shown in Fig.4 for ile. A stop member 52l may be provided in one or hoth of theclamping members to support the tongue on the band 30, and to preventthe clamping members 4S extendng too far in a downward direction, whichwould bring them into contact with blocks 39 or with pulleys 31, as willhe plain from the showing-'in Figs. 5 and 6. Springs 53, 53 pressinginwardly against the upper ends of lingers 48 serve to spread lingers 48apart at the lower ends when the tongue `portion k50 is turned toordinary extended position for drawing the truck along by its tongue,the ing is 48 fulcruming on one another at about the middle thereof.Other clamping means may, of course, be used.

The trucks may run on the wooden or concrete platforms which are at carfloor level. but if desired, tracks such as iron plates 54, 54 may beprovided to protect the platform from wear.

ln making use of the apparatus described to carry out the method of thepresent in-Y vention, the traveler is continuously operatn thedesignation Sec 3, side 17V, car No.-

15 Schenectady, indicating in this particular case that the contents ofthe truck are to go to the third platform section, the west side thereofand the car bearing No. 15, and is to be loaded therein in such orderthat it can readily be taken out when the car reaches the station ofSchenectady, -for example. To load the truck, it may be drawn into oralongside a freight car, and as it may be attached when loaded to thetraveler at any point, the precise location of the car along the trackis immaterial, and there is no necessity for spotting the cars, that isto say, arranging them in particular, definite locations as would benecessary, for example, if the trucks were run on tracks with switchesor spurs running to the edges of the platforms making it necessary tolocate the cars directly opposite such spurs or sidings. Such spottingof cars is a difficult and troublesome job for the switching crew, isproductive of a great deal of bump ing and uncoupling` of cars and thelike, takes a great deal of time and trouble, and is desirably to beavoided. By the use of the present invention, the train or series ofcars may be simply run up on its track and left there, Withoutuncoupling the cars or giving them anyi specic location, and this is afeature of great practical importance.

lWhen desired as in order to obtain quick delivery to any particularpoint, or to relieve congestion, or the like, the trucks can be detachedas at the common platform 2l and reattached to the traveler elsewhere,so as to short circuit unnecessary travel, and extra or empty trucks,etc. may be kept on this platform if desired. lWhen the truck arrives ator near the car into which its contents are to go, it is detached andunloaded, and is then reattached to the traveler, and goes forward untilit reaches a point at which an empty truck is needed, where it isdetached and put to use in the same way.

The slow speed at which the traveler moves permits the moving of trucksfreely across or along the platform in substantially any desired manner.rilhis is of advantage when ordinary hand trucking is desired to be usedto some extent as where explosives or other special articles of freightmust be transferred with extra care by hand, or in other cases wherehand trucking must be resorted to to some extent. This can be done overthe platforms, which, when arranged for carrying out` my improvedmethod, is nevertheless leftfree for such work to be carried on. rthesystem of transfer is highly flexible and readily adapted to a largevariety of conditions and, as will be apparent, serves to reduce andlighten hand labor very materially, enabling a great volume of transferwork to be carried on expeditiously and economically and in an etlicientand systematic manner. form or section may have its own gang of workerswhose operations may be confined substantially to that location, andthere is substantially no occasion for running about from platform toplatform as heretofore, and many other features of advantage areobtainable.

Maximum amount of traffic can be handled over a railroad line when allthe trains over it run in the same direction. Similarly by my improvedmethod a maximum amount of transfer work can be done in a limited space,as the traveler and trucks always move ahead in the same direction` Inthis way the transfer operations are carried on systematically and withgreat effectiveness as compared with the confusion and lack of acoordinated system necessarily charactern istic of transfer by handtrucking, for example. rllhe necessary equipment is not expensive toinstall, the operating expense is low7 and space is utilized to thegreatest possible advantage. Saving space is often of great importance,as where the transfer sta tion is located in a populous city, wherespace is highly valuable and room for extension may not be available. lnsuch cases the ability to handle a greatly increased quantity of freightin the same or smaller space by my improved method may save the verylarge capital investment which would be required to move the transferstation to a new location.

l claim:

1,. The method of transferring and classi* fying freight which consistsin continuously moving a series of trucks in a closed path of travel inone plane and adjacent to a series of transportation units such asfreight cars and the like, and having branches approaching one anotherabout a common platform, removing` individual trucks from the path oftravel at any desired point therein, and placing` freight thereon takenfrom a transportation unit, reiht-reducing said loaded trucks into thepath of travel, and removing same therefrom at any1 desired pointtherein, transferring the freight loaded thereon to a transportationunit, reintroducing the tracks into the path of travel and transferringtrucks from branch to branch of such path of travel over the commonplatform, whereby a portion of the path of travel is short circuited.

2. The process of transferring and classifying freight which consists inremovably lach platn attaching 'trucks to a Continuously inovng travelerrunning' in Suhsantally a plane adjaren to a series o rransportationunis Such ae Yireiglr; Cars and the like, and oomprisingg branchesapproaching one another about a common platform, deaehing such truckstherefrom at any point in the path off travel, loadingreight thereon andreattaohing the loaded truck to the traveler at any desired point in itspath of ravel, detaohing saine from the traveler at any desired point inthe path of aravel and adjacent to the unit ofi transportation intowhich the freight is to be loaded, removing the freight therefrom andreattaehing the unloaded trnolr to the traveler, and transsiierrino'trucks from branch to branch of the traveler over the Common platform,whereby a portion of its path of travel is short orcuited.

ln testimony that l olain the foregoing, have hereto set my` hand,Jthis, 13th day of March, 1919.

WTLLAB/ H. MASON.

